Chances
by Turtle Queen of Freeks
Summary: What if Sirius found out that he actually had a daughter? Meet Sakhmet, another person with a prophecy.
1. Discoveries

Discoveries

Sirius Black had only once made this face before. It was when James Potter, his best friend, had decided to put a frog in his underwear during their first year at Hogwarts. As such, his expression was one of shock, surprise, and more than a little confusion.

"I have a what?" he asked the wrinkly old man in front of him.

"A daughter. Now Sirius, we're not exactly sure how this could have happened, but-" He looked up from the papers he had been looking through on his desk. Sirius Black had left the building. Unlike the usual wise and compassionate Albus Dumbledore people were used to seeing, the headmaster of Hogwarts was slamming his head against the desk. Some might say he was getting senile. Some would say that he had always been off his rocker. But the opinion we have gathered from psychiatric wards across the country is that Albus Dumbledore had made a mistake.

* * *

"What happened to you?" asked Remus Lupin, best surviving friend of Sirius Black.

"Dumbledore," replied Sirius, slurring heavily. He had been drinking for an hour at least before Remus found him. Apparently, finding out that you have a thirteen-year-old daughter is a bit much, although it can cause quite an addiction to alcohol.

"Sirius, is having a daughter really that bad?"

Sirius Black squinted at his friend.

"Dumbledore told me before I went looking for," Remus explained with a shrug. "Now what's so terrible about having a daughter?"

Sirius' mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he managed to come up with an answer. "This means I'm a parent."

"And?"

"Remus, you can be utterly clueless at times."

"Then explain it to me, O wise one."

"And you're not that good with sarcasm either."

"Sirius-"

"Be serious? Fine then." He sighed. "If I'm a parent, then I'll have to be a role model. And that means I won't be able to have fun anymore."

Remus' mouth hung open in the air. "That's it? You don't even care about how your daughter is going to feel about this whole thing? Sirius, we're not even sure who her mother is! And you're drowning your sorrows, because you'll have to act like an adult for once? That's pathetic." He stood up, putting on his cloak. "I'm sorry for the poor girl. You're a terrible father." With those last words, the werewolf strode out of the Three Broomsticks and into the falling snow outside.

And rather like Albus Dumbledore, Sirius was left to slam his head against the bar in front of him, causing many people to give him strange looks before returning to their alcohol-induced cheer.

* * *

Meanwhile, a teenage girl was sitting up in bed to allow an owl to come in from the cold. Untying the string on its leg, she opened the envelope she found there. Her eyes widened the further she read in the letter. And in the words of today's youth, she expressed her opinion: "Holy shit." 


	2. Lost and Found

Lost and Found

It was a few months later that Dumbledore was finally able to catch Sakhmet and make her agree to meet her father. When asked why she didn't want to meet Sirius, she answered, "You see, Luke Skywalker didn't have a father either. He grew up to be a great guy, but when he finally did meet his dad, it turned out to be Darth Vader, the majorly icky big bad guy. And then Darth Vader cut off his arm." Although Albus Dumbledore didn't quite understand this, not being very well acquainted with Muggle television, he understood her point slightly.

And as she stood in the entranceway of Number 12, Grimmauld Place, Sakhmet couldn't help but feel that she had been right. After wondering what kind of druggy would live in a dump like that, she turned her attention to the portrait that had begun welcoming its granddaughter to her home.

"-And I certainly hope you won't be as much of a failure as that father of yours. He's a complete imbecile, the fruit of my womb that rotted."

After looking over the old woman in the portrait, Sakhmet decided that she'd probably like her father more than his mother did, although she doubted that would be much of an accomplishment. But just to make the old woman happy . . .

"YO POPS!" The woman in the portrait stared open-mouthed at her. The girl winked and grinned before continuing. "YOU DEAD OR SOMETHING!"

"My fondest wish," muttered the mother of the man in question.

At that a man's head appeared in a doorway up the stairs. The head was followed by a body that slowly walked down the stairs before staring in silence at the floor.

"Hello, I'm Sakhmet." She hadn't expected a Kodak moment. She hadn't even expected him to show up. But she had hoped that at least he wouldn't be a chicken. "I was just having a lovely conversation with your mother."

"Was that where you learned to yell like that?" the man asked, raising his head from the floor.

"No, I'm thirteen. I've known how to yell for most of my life."

"So I guess it's hereditary."

Sakhmet made a face at her father. "You don't look much like me. Think the old fart made it up?"

"The 'old fart'," said Albus Dumbledore from behind her, "would prefer it if his facts were not questioned."

"Does he always talk about himself in the third person?" Sakhmet asked her father.

"No, he usually doesn't mention himself at all," he answered with a smile. "I think he prefers to deal with other people's problems."

"So he's nosy too? And I thought that there weren't wizard social workers."

The old man chuckled. "And you also thought you'd hate each other."

At that father and daughter looked at each other. "So who's mom?"

"Well, you see-"

"You don't know."

"Not exactly."

"Not exactly or not at all?"

"Well, you see-"

Sakhmet didn't see. Nor did she care to. At that particular moment, her actions were caused partially by the old man's point and partially by the fact that her dad was probably a playboy. Not even the psychiatrists I have consulted in the writing of these events are quite sure what was going through her head at that particular moment. What we do know is that Sakhmet walked up to her father and kicked him in the knee before marching out the door and down the street where she turned left and continued walking.


	3. Truth

Truth

Sirius rubbed his knee. "Why in the world would she do something like that?"

"Sirius, there's something I need to explain to you."

"Well, you've certainly picked a time to do it."

"The last time I tried to tell you, you walked out of my office," Dumbledore reminded the man who was now sitting on the crumbling stairs.

"Whatever. Just explain."

"Well, first of all she was kind of raised in Muggle foster homes."

Sirius looked up, eyes wide in shock. His expression turned into a glare. "And it's taken you _how_ long to find her?"

"Thirteen years, but that's not the point. The point is that you have to understand the kind of environment that she's been in."

"Okay."

"The second thing is-"

"There's a second thing?"

"Yes."

"But I'm still recovering from the first thing."

"Oh, shut up and let the old fart finish!" shouted old Mrs. Black from her ancient frame.

"You were saying?" asked Sirius blankly.

"Well, did you notice anything different about her name?"

"It sounds Egyptian, but that's not that big of a difference from the other names in this family."

"It's the name of an Egyptian goddess and part of a prophecy."

"Not another prophecy," groaned Sirius. It was bad enough having to listen to the old man, but when he started rambling on about prophecies, he was almost as bad as Professor Trelawney, a divination teacher at Hogwarts who thought she was a seer.

"Yes, another prophecy, and this one concerns your daughter." At this Sirius sat up. "Sakhmet used to be Hathor, Egyptian goddess of love and fertility. But one day Ra told her to destroy all mortals, and she became Sakhmet, goddess of war and death."

"You're talking about the Egyptian goddess Sakhmet, right? Not the one who just ditched us?"

"Well, the goddess is part of the prophecy concerning Sakhmet, and yes, I was talking about the goddess."

"Okay, because it's kind of confusing to the rest of us when you're talking about a goddess and a teenager with the same name."

For once in his life, Albus Dumbledore rolled his eyes. "May I continue?"

"Certainly," replied Sirius who was once more reclining on the stairs.

"Basically Sakhmet, _your daughter_, was and possibly _is_ kind and compassionate. But at one point, she's going to become a killer, and one thing we have to do is make sure she stays on _our_ side."

"And not Moldy Voldy's."

"Exactly."

"So my kid's going to be another disgrace to the family?"

"It would appear so," said Mrs. Black tersely from her grimy portrait.

"Score!" said Sirius whilst doing a victory dance.


	4. Propositions

Propositions

"Sakhmet," a voice hissed from behind a tree in the park Sakhmet had found to wander in until she could figure out what to do.

She glared at the speaker. It was a blond man in a dark robe. With a metal-tipped cane, he looked like he was used to sneering at anyone and everyone. She walked over to him before asking waspishly, "What?"

"The man I work for sent me to offer you a proposition."

"And?"

"And what?" asked the tall man, not used to being spoken down to. Having someone less than a third of his age speak down to him was almost unbearable. But he had a task to do.

"And who is this man you work for? And what is this proposition you speak of?"

"I work for Lord Voldemort. He would like to offer you the chance to serve in his army."

"First of all, I dislike him for the simple fact that he sent one of his-" She looked Lucius Malfoy up and down before continuing. "-Minions to speak with me. This _lord_ you speak of obviously doesn't know a thing about dealing with people like me. Secondly, I'm going to say no anyway just to piss you off." The man's disgusted expression turned into one of fury. "And lastly-" She grabbed the man's neck, pulling his face down to her level. "I serve _no one_." At that she released the man and walked away.

"You are a fool," spat the man.

"No more than you are."

Sakhmet didn't break her stride until she arrived at an empty playground. Here she sat in a swing and watched the sunset before returning to the park to curl up in a tree.

* * *

And that was where her father found her. After sniffing out her trail, Sirius had followed her tracks hurriedly, almost missing that she had spoken to Malfoy Senior. He returned to his human form when he found her curled up in her tree.

After having her branch shaken by "daddy dearest", Sakhmet had the wonderful joy of falling out of the tree. She promptly spoke of her indignation in words that would make a sailor blush.

However her father just stood there until she was finished. Then he spoke. "So are you coming back? I certainly hope we can find a better place for you to sleep back at my house than a tree."

Exasperated, Sakhmet simply nodded. They walked in silence back to Number 12, Grimmauld Place while Sirius thought over Dumbledore's warning.

* * *

"_And it probably wouldn't be a great idea to tell her about the prophecy."_

"_Why on earth not?"_

"_Well, she might feel like we're using her."_

"_That's kind of what you're doing."_

"_Me?"_

"_Yes, you. You actually think I'm in charge of anything?" Sirius laughed cheerily._

"_Well, either way you shouldn't tell her just yet. Wait a few months at least."

* * *

_

"Hey, Sakhmet?" the man asked.

"Yeah?"

"I've got a proposition for you."

"Be careful. The last man who said that ended up going back to a beating."

"Oh, you mean Malfoy? What was that about anyway?"

"He wanted me to work for some weirdo. He sounded like a pedophile to me."

"He wouldn't happened to have mentioned Lord Voldemort, would he?"

"Actually he did. Now what was that proposition you mentioned?"

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't joined the dark side yet. "Well, if you stick around, we'll see if we can get you into the year you should be in at Hogwarts."

"Deal." They shook left hands before continuing to walk on.

"By the way, how did you know what Hogwarts is?"

"I heard it from my namesake."

Sirius stopped suddenly. "You spoke to a goddess?"

"Well, technically I had a couple of dreams where she explained stuff to me, but basically yeah. We 'Sakhmets' stick together. Speaking of which, when exactly were you going to tell me about that prophecy?"

"The old fart decreed that I shut my trap. She told you?"

"I guessed from what I've read about her story."

"Ah."


	5. Toleration

Toleration

The next month developed a routine. Sakhmet would wake up barely an hour before noon, when she would go downstairs to reheat her breakfast. Sirius would have already made breakfast a few hours beforehand. Then she would pick a room to clean and decorate, because as she said, "If this house isn't going to look like people live in it, then I'm _not_ going to live in it." Sirius agreed, partially because Sakhmet decided what to do with the room. All he had to do was perform a few simple charms.

By the time summer began, most of the house was finished, including the kitchen, Sakhmet's room, the Order's meeting room, several of the guest bedrooms, and the bathrooms. Sakhmet had tackled the bathrooms soon after her own room, when she found out that Grimmauld Place didn't have a shower. After replacing the rusty metal bathtub with a working shower, Sakhmet had attempted to figure out a design for her father's room. However he had taken to locking his door, preferring his "creative chaos".

"The creature known as Kreacher", as Sakhmet had dubbed him, had been allowed his small corner of the kitchen, provided he stayed there and shut his trap. After listening to his pathetic grumbling her second afternoon in Grimmauld Place, Sakhmet had finally shouted at him to "be silent before she summoned a pestilence". Kreacher had taken into his head that, because Sakhmet was named after a goddess, she was somehow a higher order of "scum that would appall the mistress, if she only knew". Thus Kreacher was confined to his corner to prevent further theft of the junk previous family members had left in the house after they "kicked the bucket" as Sirius liked to say in front of his mother's painting. Every time he did, she glared death at him, as Sakhmet laughed.

After taking a break for lunch, father and daughter would not stop their crusade against the house until around six when one of them would try their hand at cooking dinner, the other laughing at their choice of language. And father and daughter grew to love each other (A/N: Stop thinking like that. GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!) in a purely familial way.

After dinner, the two would chat about the house, the Order of the Phoenix, which Sirius had explained to Sakhmet recently, and the world in general. Often, Sirius would read an article out loud from the Daily Prophet while his daughter laughed at the government's stupidity. Every now and then their conversation would wander to the topic of who exactly was Sakhmet's mother. Sirius had already decided that it was probably an auror, although he wasn't quite sure which one. Sakhmet wasn't too far off with her idea that her father had once been "the male equivalent of a slut".

More often, the conversation would turn to Hogwarts. Sakhmet wanted to know all about it, seeing as she would be going there in September. Dumbledore had also decided that she could catch up on her first two years at Hogwarts in classes during the summer with him and a Professor Snape, whom Sirius vehemently hated. The classes would take place at Grimmauld Place every other afternoon, forcing her to wake up and eat breakfast by eight every morning to practice her spells. Mrs. Weasley, a kind redheaded woman with several children at Hogwarts, had taken her to buy her wand. Sirius was thought to be a criminal for reasons he had yet to disclose.

After talking to Sirius for a few hours, Sakhmet would go to bed where she would wonder which house she would be put in.

* * *

Emma Barrows-Thank you very much, and btw Maelstrom is great so far!

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies-Nice to know you've gotten off the Jenny kick.


	6. Meetings

Meetings

Everything was perfect. Or at least, it was as close to perfect as Sakhmet had ever seen. But change must come as it always does. And for Sakhmet, change came with the summer.

After she finally managed to get Sirius to name a specific date for the arrival of the Weasleys, some girl from Hogwarts, and several members of the Order of the Phoenix, an organization that the goddess had explained to Sakhmet over the space of a few dreams, Sakhmet had hurried upstairs to choose an outfit. After being in seclusion with her father, Sakhmet wanted to make as good of an impression as she could with just about anybody her age.

With the excitement of meeting new people, she almost forgot about her summer lessons. But the day before the much-anticipated arrival, a tall man with extremely greasy black hair arrived. After introductions were made, Sakhmet began to learn her first year potions. The goddess had made her read up on her school subjects beforehand, and this helped her a great deal with a few crucial safety tips that Professor Snape "accidentally" left out. After making her first potion to his standards, they moved onto two more before her Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson began. She learned a new spell, which she had to practice a bit before getting it right on her fifth try. Professor Snape assigned her an essay and sneered at Sirius before leaving.

As soon as the greasy-haired pessimist left, Sirius stuck his tongue out at the door. "Sirius, act your age." Sakhmet had yet to get used to calling him "dad". He didn't seem to mind, so she didn't see any reason not to call him by his name.

He made a face at her before asking how her first day of lessons was.

"Good. What is it between you and Snape though?"

"He's a git. I see no reason to lie to him about that, and apparently that's offensive."

-  
The next day, Sakhmet woke up early from another dream with the goddess. She heard people downstairs. They were trying to be quiet. She snuck down the stairs silently, staying in the shadows. The entrance was empty. She was about to look around a corner when a husky voice said, "Come on out, girl."

She stepped into the light, glaring around for whoever had seen her. A rather strange man was standing there. He had one beady black eye and one blue eye that moved as though with a life of its own. She immediately recognized him. "Mr. Moody." She nodded in greeting. There were several people standing behind him with various looks of confusion at the sight of her.

"And you would be Sakhmet," he replied. "Sneaking around in your own house?"

"I heard you downstairs," Sakhmet replied. "'Constant vigilance.'"

Mad-eye Moody chuckled in response. "I certainly hope the rest of you will learn about that," he said sharply to the group behind him.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude or anything," said a red-headed girl that looked only slightly older than me. "But who the heck are you?"

"I thought we had already covered this," Sakhmet replied, tensing. "I'm Sakhmet."

"But what are you doing here? You don't even go to Hogwarts," the girl said bluntly.

"I will after the summer's over."

"But you're too old to be a first year," blurted out an older boy, her brother Sakhmet assumed.

"They couldn't find me until a few months ago."

"But what are you doing here?" the girl asked again.

"I kind of live here." They were silent. "I'm Sirius' daughter. Didn't he tell you?" A few people shook their heads silently, still staring. "Would you hold on for a sec?" Sakhmet moved swiftly up the stairs to Sirius' room. Hammering on his door, she yelled, "You've got some explaining to do, Sirius!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: tee hee. Sirius is gonna get his butt kicked. much giggling of the vindictive sort

Emma Barrows-Thank you, but please hold the hugs.

Crookshanks-Thanks for the explanation. I've heard of these Mary Sues, but nobody ever explains them. Majorly frustrating. But wouldn't that make HP the male equivalent of a Mary Sue? Eek. 


	7. Fury

Fury

Sirius woke with a start as the door fell down. Standing in the doorway was Sakhmet, although he wasn't sure whether it was his daughter or the goddess that was in control. Her hair stood on end, and she looked furious. A hot sandy wind blew through the room and kept Sirius from standing up. The wind had no visible effect on Sakhmet however.

"Why didn't you tell them about me?"

The wind was almost a tornado. Sand blew in all directions. Sirius coughed loudly.

"Are you _embarrassed_ about me or something?" Sakhmet shouted above the roar of the wind.

Sirius couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. He barely heard a few people come up the stairs and the screaming as they saw Sakhmet and her sandstorm. After that he passed out.

Sakhmet snapped out of her daze of fury as someone grabbed her in an attempt to stop her. She looked around blinking. Tears came to her eyes as she saw her father passed out across the room. "What?" she asked hoarsely. She saw the crowd look at her with pure terror in their eyes. "Oh, no." The sandstorm fell into a pile of sand on the floor. Sakhmet rushed forward to where Sirius was lying.

Searching her brain for what the goddess had taught her of healing, she checked for a pulse. His heart was still beating weakly. Closing her eyes, she searched for a problem she could solve. Sand had forced its way into his throat and lungs. She concentrated on it.

Sirius coughed up a small pile of sand. Sakhmet exhaled the breath she had been holding and opened her eyes. Standing up, she stumbled past the small crowd of staring people down the hall to the nearest bathroom where she promptly threw up and passed out.

Sakhmet sat up suddenly. Someone had moved her to her bed where she had continued to sleep till noon. And now she had a headache. Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed to see how Sirius was doing. She wandered silently through the house to his room. Mrs. Weasley was standing by his bed. Sakhmet hid just outside the doorway. Sirius appeared to be okay. The goddess assured her that he was, and Sakhmet wandered downstairs to the kitchen. She was hungry. She had used up a lot of energy with her indoor sandstorm, and healing Sirius had used up even more. Food would restore at least a little of that energy.


	8. Kitchen Conversations

Kitchen Conversations

When Sakhmet reached the kitchen, she noticed that the redheaded boy from the day before was talking with his sister. Sakhmet hid just outside the doorway after deciding that if the two wanted to talk in private they should do it in private instead of in the kitchen, the universal center of the household's doings.

"Since when did Sirius have a daughter?" asked the boy in a tone of less than happy surprise.

"Well, seeing how old she is, I'd say about as long as mom and dad have had a daughter," replied his sister.

"That's not what I mean, Ginny," replied the boy in an exasperated tone.

"I doubt he's known for that long," answered the girl known as Ginny. "Otherwise he would have mentioned her. It's a shame we haven't been able to say much through owl mail."

"So that's why," whispered Sakhmet to herself.

"I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this, Ron," said Ginny. "So Sirius has a daughter. You should be happy for them. If Harry suddenly found out that his parents were alive and wanted him to live with them, I'm sure you'd be really happy for him."

"Harry's my friend," replied her brother, apparently known as Ron. "Harry's someone I know and trust. This Sock net person fits none of those categories."

At that Sakhmet walked into the kitchen. "It's Sakhmet, just so you know. And it's not my fault that I don't fit said categories."

"Not your fault? Do you even remember what happened last night? You nearly killed your own dad! Excuse me if that gives me a little bit of a reason to distrust you."

Sakhmet shrugged. "That's not even all my fault. The goddess chose the wrong time to manifest my powers."

"Powers?" asked Ginny curiously. If Sakhmet had anything else up her sleeve, Ginny wanted to know.

"Yeah, apparently the goddess figured I was old enough to handle getting new powers. But she was busy with something else when she granted me my new gifts, so she didn't see what was going on over here."

"Who's this goddess person?" asked Ron, who now had dirt on his nose.

"The goddess Sakhmet. She's an Egyptian goddess of war and destruction-"

"We saw that part," interjected Ron.

Sakhmet glared at him. "And if you stayed long enough you also noticed that she's a goddess of healing too."

Ron turned red. He had run when he saw Sirius passed out.

"Now if you don't mind, I'm going to make some breakfast," Sakhmet said. "I promise not to release a pestilence," she added, holding up her right hand.

Ron muttered something about needing to unpack and stalked off.

"Don't mind him," said Ginny. "He's just mad about not being able to write to Harry, his best friend."

"That would be Harry Potter then? Sirius' godson?"

"Yeah. You call your dad Sirius?"

"Yeah, everyone else does. Or at least the few people I've seen around him have," Sakhmet replied thoughtfully as she cracked an egg into a frying pan.

"So if Sirius is your dad, who's your mom?"

"I don't know yet."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't be. For all I know she's dead anyway. And with Sirius, I probably don't want to know the kind of people he dated in his younger days." They laughed, and Sakhmet continued to cook her eggs.

* * *

Over the next week, the house developed another routine. Sakhmet continued her lessons every other day, and when those were done, she worked on the house with everyone else. Mrs. Weasley had forced the children to clean the house, and with Sirius back up on his feet, they were also able to test out new designs on the rooms of the house. Sakhmet estimated that, if they kept up this rate, most of the house would be finished by the time school started. Ron continued to ignore Sakhmet, and Sakhmet continued to glare whenever she was forced to remain in his presence.

Sakhmet got along well with the aurors, who tested the extent of her new powers under Moody's supervision. They also taught her new spells and such after she mentioned that she could practice magic due to the fact that Grimmauld Place was Unplottable. She did not, however, share this bit of information with Ron. Nor did she allow his siblings to tell him. Ginny felt a bit guilty, but Sakhmet told her that as soon as Ron was nicer to her she would tell him. Fred and George, a.k.a. the Weasley twins, just laughed at another thing they knew that their brother didn't. In exchange for this information, they promised to show Sakhmet all the secret passages they had found when she arrived at Hogwarts.

In her lessons, Sakhmet progressed quickly through the first year work at a rate that even Snape would compliment. By giving her more and harder work. Sakhmet didn't mind this. The sooner she got through the first three years of her education, the easier life at Hogwarts would be.

* * *

Two weeks after the arrival of this large group, Hermione Granger arrived. Mrs. Black tried to scare her off by screaming at her, but when her granddaughter threatened to call up a sandstorm that would rip the painting to shreds, she glared sulkily instead. Sakhmet's friendship with Hermione was cut rather short when she realized what terrible taste Hermione had in boys. When she realized the new girl had a crush on Ron, she decided to be friendly. But she doubted that she would ever be able to be good friends with a girl who actually _wanted_ to date a guy who almost constantly had dirt on his nose.

A great deal of the summer passed by in this fashion. Until one day when Sakhmet was halfway through her third year work, the famous Harry Potter arrived.

* * *

Acharne, abused egytology major, alphabet, nonononono, and wtf- Your puny insults don't really make that much of a difference. If this is such a bad story, then why are you wasting your time being petty and complaining about it? It's not going to make a difference, and it just shows that you have no life. DEAL WITH IT!


	9. Another Arrival

Disclaimer: This chapter includes a direct quote from OotP. Just letting you know, seeing as I DO NOT OWN HP! Although it would be nice if someone could UPS me the guy who played him in the movies. Just a hint as to what I would like for Yule.

Another Arrival

Sakhmet could tell something was going to happen when she noticed that Snape was in a worse mood than usual. They had grown to tolerate each other over the summer, but that day he acted like he had during their first lesson. When Mrs. Black started shouting furiously about the people _her son_ allowed into _her _house, Sakhmet was excused to tell the old woman to shut her trap. After extending her usual familial threats of a sandstorm worse than the last one, Sakhmet turned to greet the newcomer.

"Hello. I'm Sakhmet, Sirius' daughter. And you'd be my god-brother then." She extended her hand. "Nice to meet you."

The boy shook her hand in a daze. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but since when has Sirius had a daughter?"

"The past thirteen years, but he only found out that I existed last winter. He hasn't been able to say much about me due to the problems with owl mail."

"What problems with owl mail?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"They can be intercepted," replied Sakhmet, surprised that he hadn't already guessed it. "Now if you don't mind, I have to go back to my lesson if I want to ever start my fourth year at Hogwarts."

A few hours later, Sakhmet said goodbye to Professor McGonagall. Professor Dumbledore had recently stopped teaching her for reasons unknown. Hearing shouting on the second floor, she quietly walked up the stairs until she stood outside the door of one of the guestrooms.

(A/N: This is the direct quote I warned you about.)"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT—WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH OF YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?"

At that point, Sakhmet felt it was about time to intrude. If she could silence her grandmother, she could probably silence the boy who lived. She pushed the door open, making sure it creaked. Hermione and Ron looked at her, their eyes wide. Harry turned around, still fuming. "I guess Sirius forgot to tell me that."

"What that I'm under-appreciated?"

"No, that you're self-centered."

"WHAT?"

"Well, in all the stories he told me about you, he never mentioned once that you think it's all you doing these things. Not that it isn't or anything, but he always said how proud he was of how you always mentioned what your friends had done to help even when everybody else was busy gadding on about how the Boy Who Lived did something else amazing. Now that I've met you and heard you behind the scenes, it's rather a lot like politics."

The boy in front of her blinked in confusion.

"In politics, people pretend to be something they're not just so they look good. They mention how thankful they are that there were people who helped them along the way even when they're not just so they look good. You may not be doing it intentionally, but you're being a politician." She turned to leave. "Oh, and by the way, my room's next door, so SHUT THE HELL UP! Because I can get very grouchy and sometimes violent as I'm sure Ron will be warning you soon. Dinner will be served soon. I'd suggest you finish your tantrum before then." And with that, Sakhmet left and went next door to her room where she collapsed on the bed. It took a lot of work to be intimidating. But on the bright side of things, the room she had left was amazingly quiet.


	10. Dinner

Disclaimer: Here's another chapter that includes direct quotes from OotP. Sorry, but I can't change _everything_, you know! My creativity has limits!

Dinner

During dinner, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were unsurprisingly quiet. Ginny followed suit due to a conversation on the stairs before dinner. Sakhmet and the twins however continued talking to the other more talkative people at the table. Sakhmet had been dozing during that conversation and hadn't heard any of it, so she didn't mind. After being called upon to silence her grandmother, Sakhmet had been in a fairly good mood. Tonks tried to cheer everyone up by changing her nose into a variety of different shapes, including one that looked rather like a hairy pickle. But this did nothing to lift the sad mood from that section of the table.

"Dementors, huh?" said Sirius, in an attempt to lift the silence. "And I thought sandstorms were interesting."

"How many times do I have to tell you that was an _accident_? It's not _my_ fault the goddess decided to manifest my powers at the wrong time. Even _she_ says so!" interjected Sakhmet.

"Sandstorms?" asked Harry inquisitively. Nobody had told him there were sandstorms here too. Nobody had told him anything actually.

Sakhmet glared. "I got mad at Sirius for not telling anybody that I existed, and apparently the goddess had manifested my powers at the same time. So—"

"Who's this goddess person exactly?" asked Tonks. "You never really explained it that well."

"Sakhmet is also the name of the Egyptian goddess of destruction and war. She's also a goddess of healing, but nobody really mentions that much. She used to be Hathor, but then Ra asked her to kill some people who were conspiring against him. So she went down to earth and went psycho on a bunch of Egyptians. She would have killed everyone if they hadn't tricked her into stopping," answered Bill. He had spent enough time in Egypt to know these things.

"Exactly, and apparently there's some idiot prophecy that says I'll do the same sort of thing," added Sakhmet. "So the goddess explains different stuff to me. And it's also her duty to manifest my powers. That's why I _accidentally_ made an indoor sandstorm."

"But she made sure I didn't die afterwards, so it's all good," said Sirius. "But it was a pain in the neck cleaning up that sand."

Sakhmet rolled her eyes and went back to eating.

There was an outburst of laughter from the other end of the table. Mundungus Fletcher was telling another tale of his nefarious business dealings. "And then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says,''ere, Dung, where didja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what's next? So you'll be wanting some more, then?' And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back orf me for twice what 'e paid in the first place—"

"I don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, Mundungus," said Mrs. Weasley. She was glaring death at him in a way that almost made Sakhmet jealous of her glaring abilities.

"Beg pardon, Molly," said Mundungus. "But, you know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong—"

"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons," was the icy reply.

Dinner continued with many stifled giggles and a few laughs turned coughs. After a while, Mrs. Weasley said, "Nearly time for bed, I think."

"Not just et, Molly," replied Sirius. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would e to start asking questions about Voldemort."

"I did!" answered Harry. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so—"

"And they're quite right," interjected Mrs. Weasley. "You're too young."

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got a right to know what's been happen—"

"Hang on!" interrupted George.

"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" asked Fred.

"_We've_ been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" added his twin.

"_'You're too young, you're not in the Order'_," said Fred, imitating his mother. "Harry's not even of age!"

"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius. "That's your parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand—"

This went on for quite some time. In the end it was decided that Harry, Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione would be allowed to stay. Ginny yelled all the way to bed, and Sakhmet made a resolution to tell her everything before she went to bed.

When Sirius looked at her pointedly, Sakhmet said, "Go ahead. Try and make me leave."

Sirius just laughed and said, "So that's all of you? Except Ginny of course. Well, then, Harry, what do you want to know?"

* * *

Now if you happen to have OotP handy, you can just read Chapter 5, because that's where this conversation is. Oki? Gewd.

* * *

Afterwards, everyone went to bed. Well, except Sakhmet who snuck into Ginny's room to tell her everything she had heard. Then Sakhmet went to bed and more dreams of the goddess. 


	11. Dream

Author's Note: Ha! You ought to be happy _now._ No quotes. I promise. 

Dream

Sakhmet was sitting in her pajamas in what appeared to be a desert. Sighing, she laid back with a roll of her eyes. "What's up, goddess?"  
A woman with the head of a lioness appeared out of the sand. The lioness wore what appeared to be a frown, although it was rather hard to tell with the fur. "Rather a lot considering I'm supposed to still be on vacation"  
"Now don't be mad at _me_," replied Sakhmet, sitting up. _"I'm _not the one who made that stupid prophecy"  
The goddess sighed. "Well, I could have done with a bit more rest. Oh, well. No use crying over dead Egyptians."  
"Let me guess," answered the girl, who now had quite a bit of sand in her hair. "That's what you told Ra after you went psycho on your people"  
"We all make mistakes," replied the goddess. "In fact, you're going to make the same one, so you can just shut your trap about it"  
"Whatever," sighed the sandy girl. "So what do you think the weapon is? You know, the one Moldy Voldy wants"  
"I haven't the faintest," answered the goddess. "It could be almost anything in there. It _is_ the Department of Mysteries, you know." A crease appeared on the lioness' forehead. "Oo, I hope it's not the Veil of Mysteries."  
"They've already got a department; do they really need a veil?"  
The lioness head rolled her eyes. "It's just a name, and it's only a mystery to you morals." The girl in the sand glared. "Oh, all right. The Veil of Mysteries is what divides your world and mine. You cross it when you die, but for you mortals, it's a one-way trip"  
"So Ooey-Gooey Moldy Voldy could just shove folks through it?"  
"Exactly"  
"How rude"  
"But you have to admit, it's very efficient"  
"No, I don't. Freedom of speech"  
A very naughty word proceeded from the lioness' mouth, and the desert faded into darkness.  
For the rest of the night, the goddess' counterpart, Sakhmet Black, dreamed of shadowswith the sound of curtains in a breeze.


	12. Anticipation

Anticipation

For the next few days, Sakhmet continued her lessons with Professors Snape and McGonagall and cleaned the back of the house with the others. She noticed that everyone was nervous the day of Harry's trial, but the goddess had forbidden her from telling anyone the outcome of the trial ahead of time. As such she didn't join in the odd dance with Ginny and the twins when they found out.

Until the day when the children would return to (or in Sakhmet's case arrive at) Hogwarts, Sirius seemed to have a melancholy aura. It would have depressed Sakhmet if she weren't already grouchy from her dream-filled sleep. Not only was the goddess visiting every night to warn her of the dangers of saying too much of what she thought, she also had strange dreams of looking through a strange fog, thin yet tangible. Yet even her bad mood didn't stop her from laughing when she found out that the foolish Ron was a prefect. She couldn't help but agree with Fred and George on the subject of prefects. She didn't mind the party though. It was rather fun to talk to all the assorted strange people in the Order of the Phoenix, even though halfway through she had to charm some duct-tape to stick to Ron's mouth to silence his ravings about his new broom.

The next morning she almost had a heart attack when she realized that she'd be going to a place like absolutely nothing she had ever seen in just a few hours. She rushed about as she finished the packing she should have done the previous night. After throwing on the fifth outfit she had picked out, she ran downstairs just in time to grab a bite of breakfast before they left with Sirius the dog in tow.

Sirius had to bite Sakhmet's ankle four times on the walk to Kings Cross station to keep her from leaving them all behind. She was so anxious to arrive that she kept speeding up every few minutes. When they arrived at the station Sakhmet hugged Sirius and told him to bark at her grandmother for her before running onto the train, barely held back by her heavy trunk. When she found an odd girl sitting in an otherwise empty compartment, she immediately sat down next to the girl and stuck out her hand. "I'm Sakhmet Black, who are you?"

The girl stared at her as though she had just noticed Sakhmet there. "Luna Lovegood. You're too young to be a first year."

"I'm a fourth year, but I'm just now going to Hogwarts. They couldn't find me. What are you reading?"

"_The Quibbler_. My father's the editor."

"Never heard of it. Would you mind too terribly if I read over your shoulder?"  
"Not really." Luna raised the upside-down magazine back to her face. It was opened to an article on Cornelius Fudge's apparent vendetta against goblins. They were both totally absorbed until Ginny, Harry, and a boy Sakhmet had never met entered.

Ginny greeted them and asked if they could sit in the compartment. Sakhmet and Luna both nodded before returning to the magazine. They were now in the middle of an article on how Sirius Black was really Stubby Portman. Sakhmet had to bite her tongue not to laugh. It was rather interesting finding out why Sirius had been in Azkaban however. At least some of the story was true.

Ginny began a dull amount of small talk that barely registered in Sakhmet's brain as speech. Neville's reluctant introduction tore her away from another slightly insane article that she wasn't very able to concentrate on in the first place.

After the introductions everyone tried not to laugh at Luna's reading habits. Sakhmet ignored them and tried to focus on an article about how the Quidditch League was corrupt. A few moments passed before her reading was interrupted again by Neville.

"Guess what I got for my birthday?"

"Another Remembrall?" asked Harry.

"No, I could do with one though, I lost the old one ages ago. . No, look at this. ." He took out what appeared to be a squishy gray cactus with a bad case of acne; instead of the usual prickly things it had boils. Sakhmet tried not to look disgusted. "Mimbulus mimbletonia," Neville said proudly, as though it were something terribly interesting rather than a sad little. . thing. "It's really, really rare," continued the boy, still acting like the whatever-it-was was the most incredible thing in the world. "I don't know if there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My great-uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it." Sakhmet wondered if Neville hadn't been dropped on his head when he was a baby.

"Does it - er - do anything?" asked Harry with as much tact as a rock to the head.

Neville appeared to be very thick-skulled when it came to rocks to the head. He demonstrated by taking a quill from his bag and poking the plant-thing.

Apparently the plant could be much more disgusting than it had been before. Sakhmet's hand immediately went to her hair where it met a sticky, smelly mass that covered the rest of the compartment as well. Wiping her face, she glared hotly at Neville.

"S-sorry," he stuttered. "I haven't tried that before. . Didn't realize it would be quite so. . Don't worry though, Stinksap's not poisonous," he added as Harry spat a disgusting mouthful onto the floor.

With timing that only happens in stories (and in the lives of the unlucky), the compartment door opened to reveal a pretty girl with really long black hair. Sakhmet began to wonder if it was a witch thing to have long hair. Tonks had been the only girl she had seen with short hair since she met Sirius. She decided to think more on this later as the girl began to speak. "Oh. . hello, Harry. Um. . bad time?" Apparently the girl was a Barbie prototype; pretty and states the obvious, all at the same time!

"Oh. . hi," said Harry stupidly. Sakhmet rolled her eyes.

"Um. ." said the Barbie prototype. "Well. . just thought I'd say hello. . bye then." She left quickly with a pink face. Harry sank into his seat as Sakhmet laughed uncontrollably. Harry glared at her to shut up, but Sakhmet just kept laughing.

"Don't tell me you actually like her? She's a total Barbie clone!" she managed to say in between laughing and breathing.

"A what?" asked Luna curiously. Apparently the girl had a fixation to anything odd.

"Barbie's a Muggle doll. She's basically really pretty and really stupid. Or at least really uncreative. She never seems to come up with anything original other than a good outfit every now and then."

Ginny's mouth twitched as she spelled the compartment clean. Nearly an hour went by before Ron and Hermione showed up with the news that Lucius Malfoy's son was a Slytherin prefect. Of course, this was met with moans, groans, and complaints. Ron and Hermione somehow managed to get into a single argument instead of their usual three to seven.

Finally they arrived at Hogwarts where Sakhmet became the tallest person in the first year crowd other than some teacher that she assumed must be replacing the Hagrid person Ginny and the others were asking each other about. The others went to carriages drawn by what appeared to be semi-transparent skeletal horses with leathery wings. Confused for the moment, she stood still in the moving crowd and closed her left eye. The horse-creatures were no longer transparent in the slightest but fully solid. She switched eyes. The horses were no longer there. She retested this several times before she rejoined the first year crowd.


	13. Sorting

**Chapter 14**

**Sorting**

There are no words to describe the thoughts going through Sakhmet's head when she saw the Hogwarts castle that can ever surpass one single word: wow. Ancient stone towers and turrets covered the roof. After crossing a lake in a boat with three girls who couldn't seem to stop asking why she was just now coming to Hogwarts if she was going into her fourth year. After the third time she ignored them to stare at the castle. She was taken by a sense of time. The castle seemed to have been there forever and would continue on forever until the ends of the earth. 'If there is a garden of Eden,' she thought, 'it can't be older than this.'

When she arrived at the castle, she was led with the first years to an entrance hall to wait for the sorting to begin. Sakhmet surveyed the others in an attempt to keep herself calm enough not to puke. No such luck. Each and every single first year looked like they were about to be led to their executioner.

After what seemed an eternity of deep breathes in an attempt to calm herself, Sakhmet was led with the others into an enormous room that she would later know as the Great Hall. There were four long dark wooden tables at which sat more people than Sakhmet had ever seen in one place, even at the theme park where she had once gone with a couple that considered adopting her when she was seven years old. They had changed their mind when they said they couldn't afford a child after all. Sakhmet and everyone else knew that it was because her "cute stage" was over. She shoved thoughts of everything but the sorting to the back of her mind.

She looked up at scores of floating taper candles, all burning with solemn joy. Past these she saw what she imagined it would look like if you could see past the ceiling. Remembering the horse-creatures, she closed her left eye. She saw a stone carved ceiling. Switching eyes, she saw the night sky.

Opening both eyes, she surveyed the head table where a bunch of teachers were sitting. There was Dumbledore and Professor Snape (sour-faced as usual) and Professor McGonagall along with several teachers she had never met. She recognized Flitwick by his description from Sirius; he was just like she had imagined. She was certain no one had said a thing about the fat cloying woman in pink. Something told her that the woman wasn't as good at being nice as she pretended to be. In front of the head table was a wooden stool with a ragged looking hat whose patches looked older than Dumbledore. As Sakhmet stared at it, the hat began to sing.

_In times of old when I was new_

_And Hogwarts barely started_

_The founders of our noble school_

_Thought never to be parted:_

_United by a common goal,_

_They had the selfsame yearning,_

_To make the world's best magic school_

_And pass along their learning._

_"Together we will build and teach!"_

_The four good friends decided_

_And never did they dream that they_

_Might someday be divided,_

_For were there such friends anywhere_

_As Slytherin and Gryffindor?_

_Unless it was the second pair of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw_

_So how could it have gone so wrong?_

_How could such friendships fail?_

_Why, I was there and so can tell_

_The whole sad, sorry tale._

_Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those_

_Whose ancestry is purest."_

_Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose_

_Intelligence is surest."_

_Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those_

_With brave deeds to their name."_

_Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,_

_And treat them just the same."_

_These differences caused little strife_

_When first they came to light,_

_For each of the four founders had_

_A House in which they might_

_Take only those they wanted, so,_

_For instance, Slytherin_

_Took only pure-blood wizards_

_Of great cunning, just like him,_

_And only those of sharpest mind_

_Were taught by Ravenclaw_

_While the bravest and the boldest_

_Went to daring Gryffindor._

_Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,_

_And taught them all she knew,_

_Thus the Houses and thier founders_

_Retained friendships firm and true._

_So Hogwarts worked in harmony_

_For several happy years,_

_But then discord crept among us_

_Feeding on our faults and fears._

_The Houses that, like pillars four,_

_Had once held up out school,_

_Now turned upon each other and,_

_Divided, sought to rule._

_And for a while it seemed the school_

_Must meet an early end,_

_What with dueling and with fighting_

_And the clash of friend on friend_

_And at last there came a morning_

_When old Slytherin departed_

_And though the fighting then died out_

_He left us quite downhearted._

_And never since the founders four_

_Were whittled down to three_

_Have the Houses been united_

_As they were once meant to be._

_And now the Sorting Hat is here_

_And you all know the score:_

_I sort you into Houses_

_Because that is what I"m for,_

_But this year I'll go further,_

_Listen closely to my song:_

_Though condemned I am to split you_

_Still I worry that it's wrong,_

_Though I must fulfill my duty_

_And must quarter every year_

_Still I wonder whether sorting_

_May not bring the end I fear._

_Oh, know the perils, read the signs,_

_The warning history shows,_

_For our Hogwarts is in danger_

_From external, deadly foes_

_And we must unite inside her_

_Or we'll crumble from within_

_I have told you, I have warned you. ._

_Let the Sorting now begin._

Sakhmet wondered if all talking hats were clairvoyant. Mutterings filled the hall for a few moments before Professor McGonagall called out, "Abercrombie, Euan." A terrified boy barely managed to reach the stool before collapsing on it. The hat was placed on his head. It was still for a moment before a rip opened (like a strange sort of mouth) and shouted louder than you'd think a hat could. "GRYFFINDOR!"

A table that she assumed was Gryffindor's clapped loudly. Six terrified first years later, Sakhmet took deep breathes as she realized it was her turn.

"Black, Sakhmet."

Sakhmet walked forward, attempting not to walk too jerkily. She had read a story once about a man who judged people by how they walked. He had ended up hating his dull suburban life, but it still couldn't help to ruin how people saw her when they hadn't even met her yet. She ignored the muttered questions from all four tables as she sat down. The wide brim covered her eyes. 'Thank you,' she thought to the hat.

'Oh, you're quite welcome,' said a kind voice strongly reminiscient of the hat's appearance. 'Now where on earth shall I put you? You're bold, that's for certain. Smart too. And your memories sound like you're cunning as well. So where. . ?'

'I dunno,' thought Sakhmet. She hadn't thought she'd be allowed to choose.

'I certainly hope you weren't planning on ignoring me!' came the goddess' voice. She sounded grouchy. Something big must really be up.

'Well, if you've got any ideas, I'd certainly appreciate them.' The hat didn't seem too happy about having his time with a student interrupted. 'Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or Slytherin?'

The hat and the goddess discussed her future before being interrupted by a loud thought from Sakhmet. 'I think I would like to be in Slytherin, if you don't mind!'

After sullenly agreeing, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" and a table full of people she didn't know clapped politely. The hat was removed from her head, and she was walking to the table where she sat down without a word or so much as a smile to the people around her. She didn't even look at them until the next person was on the chair. "How long was I?" she whispered to the girl next to her.

"A minute or two. I was starting to wonder whether you wouldn't get kicked out. I heard that happened to a girl a few years ago. Schizophrenic. Heard she had three Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs, a Gryffindor, and a Slytherin in her." She shuddered. "Just imagine deciding what to wear in the morning." Sakhmet couldn't imagine it ever being harder than it was to choose an outfit, but she nodded just the same.

After the sorting, she was asked by a few people why she was just now coming to Hogwarts. After the first time she answered, they moved on to the subject of families. 'I just might like this crowd,' Sakhmet thought to herself.

"Who are your parents?" a boy younger than her asked.

"My dad's Sirius Black. Just met him a few months ago. Apparently the old guy up there didn't know I even existed until January." A few people laughed. 'Yes, I'll definitely enjoy this crowd.'


End file.
